Good evening everyone,
I have just returned from the Public meeting. I will give you a brief overview of what happened.
Traditional Window cleaning is still allowed, even if the drought order goes through.
At present, WFP is to be banned; however, this is currently under review.
Due to the amount of people attending the meeting, If there was several people all within the same industry, only one person was given the chance to speak properly. When asked who would speak, Craig put himself forward. His introduction was, he was representing the BWCA & FWC.
There where two main questions put to Craig, one was What does the Working at height directive mean and how does it affect window cleaners. Well probably no better person could answer this and he did very well, even thought the Water authorities where trying to side step it and only produced half of the actual report.
The second question was what is the consumption of water in these areas, this has been left unanswered at the moment, or the water authorities estimated figures might have been accepted.
The suggestion was put forward that WFP operators should still be allowed to work, due to their investment and also, that they could work to strict guidelines!!! Not to use the poles on ground floor levels and to carry a valid risk assessment on any property you are working on, that can clarify you are safer using the pole than ladders.
Obviously, the Chairman at the meeting will review the WAHD properly and also probably contact the HSE for further information, before any recommendations are made.
I produced a hand out for the people of the meeting that contained 5 pages (118) of people supporting the petition. Information relating to what questions where asked on the petition, 1 page containing averages from the information I received and 4 pages of graphs (1 per page) showing amount of employees, methods used, annual income and how this may effect your businesses. I will upload all these details to the APWC web site this evening.
We have also been advised, anyone within the drought area can transport water from other areas that are not effected by the drought to use for your wfp. However, this may prove costly.
All's we can do now is keep our fingers crossed.
Many Thanks
Andrew
